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Elephants let loose!

Ahead of the World Cup in South Africa next year, PUMA have released this season's Ivory Coast team kit which features an all new national badge designed by GBH. Referencing the 'Cote D'Ivoire' elephant mascot used on all previous badges (an animal Ivorians hold close to their hearts) the new badge illustrates a more dramatic and heroic beast, depicted in the throws of combat. Not only was it a dream project, it actually turned out to be one of the more easy projects to complete as well, with GBH's initial sketches and further development being quickly approved by the Federation of Ivorian Football without any changes! GBH commissioned Chris Wormell, to finalise the drawing and add a quality of authenticity and earthiness, by making a woodblock print for the final artwork. Look out for the new badge on June 15th 2010 when the Ivory Coast play their first world cup match.

Previous Ivory Coast badge

Initial GBH sketch

The final GBH badge

Puma Phone is star of show

After 18 months of design and development "The Puma Phone" was finally powered up this week at "Mobile World Congress" in Barcelona. GBH designed the entire user interface from scratch and worked with Sagem Wireless to make the phone a reality. The design process was one of the longest single projects ever for GBH and at one point last year over 250 individuals around the world were working on making our designs come to life. As well as the interface and all the applications GBH designed the packaging, the user guides and the viral campaign for launch.

Building a device in the shadow of "that other phone" was a daunting task but we have managed to create the most charming and friendly mobile device on the market as well as introducing some unique technical features such as solar power along the way. Everything about this phone is different, from the way it looks and talks to you to the way it's powered and packaged in an eco-friendly way.

The Puma Phone is designed for a young and active customer but the phone has also been a big hit with industry analysts and technology boffins too. Mobile World Congress is a highly technical and corporate affair with every single manufacturer showing their very best products. By playing our own game the Puma Phone stood out as a true innovation, not necessarily technical innovation but something more like "personality innovation".

What are they saying?
CNET picked it as the "Best of Show". Ben Wood and the Head of User Experience at Nokia called it a "Category Breaker". Wired magazine chose the handset as its "Star of Show" and BBC 24 explained that an hour of solar charging would give 17 minutes of talk time (before pointing out it was raining in Barcelona!)

Read review from Wired
See praise from C-Net
Look it's even on the BBC
and there's more

Puma Phone: What's it like?
It will be surprising. Nothing on the Puma phone is standard. Puma's wit and charm is everywhere in the brand new interface. This is definitely not just a logo stuck on the case.

Puma is a "Sportslifestyle" company. They want us to be more active in our daily lives but they don't take themselves too seriously. The phone has been designed with this in mind. The phone has a "Sporty Side" and "A Playful Side" and in line with Puma's philosophy on sustainability the phone boasts one of the world's first solar panels on a mobile phone.

When it comes to the design of the phone interface, the philosophy was to demystify and make simple the often over technical or over "flashy" world that is mobile phone interface design. We wanted, more than anything, to make a device that would engage you emotionally, something that could actually charm you by the way it worked. We did this by thinking of the device as a character, we wanted the device to "talk" to you like a friend not like an appliance. This meant we looked at every level of communication on the device with fresh eyes. Some of these changes are very subtle, some are quite profound. The maxim of "little things can make a big difference" was used over and over during development. Check out the "The Technical Stuff" at the end for a full run down on the features, but for now, a few examples of the way this thinking appears in the final product are as follows:

It looks simple, but it's very smart
Tiny text is banished on the interface. We made everything as chunky and "analogue" as we could in line with the Puma brand feeling. We use only the red and white colors of Puma or there's an option of just black and white to further reinforce the less is more feeling we were after. We want everything that's there to be there for a reason. Not because "that's what the others do" or "that's how it's always been done". Fewer things done better.

It talks quite nicely
Some phones say things like "To prevent possible data loss Recharge or replace your battery according to owner's manual". The Puma Phone says "Get me to a charger I can't go on much longer". Instead of saying "Attempting data connection" it will more likely say "Hang on a second" and when you press send big type playfully flashes "It's going", "It's going" and then finally "It's gone".

It's got Dylan inside
Dylan is a real puma who lives, plays and sleeps in your phone. He is your phone guardian and friend. You will see him on start-up and sleep. Call him up any other time by pressing on the "Dylan on demand" button.

The Red Carpet & other stories
The Puma Phone hides all the global and specific settings in one place. If you want to change anything simply go to the bottom right of any screen and lift up "the carpet" to find all the options you will need. Everything under here is text only and ordered; it's the German side of Puma's DNA! and it keeps "technical stuff" distinct from everything else. Having said that even the boring stuff isn't dull; go to brightness setting and alter intensity by pushing a cloud across the sun!

Favourites screen
The Puma Phone uses text or icons to navigate the phone. Never both. Something the industry seems particularly resistant to! The favourites screen is your home screen. Put whatever you use or love the most here. From 6 down to just one or two icons can be configured here. Keep it simple–and they change size.

DJ deck
The Puma Phone converts your mp3 files back to vinyl. Spin and scratch as individual records. Enough said, you already know how it works!

Icon messaging
The Puma Phone adds richness to texting by allowing access to a library of 100 custom designed icons giving help and advice to your friends. These attach to your message via a seamless carousel.

Matching sports equipment
A full set of "analogue" sports applications come built in to the Sporty Side of the phone. There's a simple old-school stopwatch, a run tracker and pedometer that looks like a running-machine display, a speedo for a bike and a gorgeous yachting compass in case you get lost at sea

The phone is available to buy at the start of April in five european countries. From phone shops and Puma Stores. Keep track of the launch and see the phone working on the Puma Phone website.

Visit Puma Phone website

The Technical Stuff
Integrated solar cell with charge indicator/ On-demand digital cat/ Name: Dylan, Size: 2.4 m x 0.8m, Weight: 81 kg/ A sporty side: Matching set of PUMA sports equipment: Analogue stopwatch/ GPS run tracker/ GPS bike speedo/ Pedometer/ Yachting compass./ A playful side: applications with added charm, Icon messaging/ Sarcastic calculator/ Scratching turntable/ Easy peasy video calls/ Tells it like it is/ Shiny chrome logo that is also a speaker/ 2.8” full touch screen tablet/ Video chat with front camera/ Music player/ FM radio/ Video recorder/ Open internet browser/ 3.2 megapixel camera/ LED flash/ Location on map/ Geotagging/ AGPS: Whatever that is.

The really Geeky Stuff
Dimension 102 x 56 x 13 mm, Weight 115g, Resolution 240 x 320, TFT Screen, wide viewing angle, Motion sensor with auto display rotation, Standby time (DG.09)350h, Talk time (DG.09) 3G mode: 4h, 2G mode: 5h/ HSUPA Cat. 4 (up to 2.9 Mbps)/ HSDPA Cat. 8 (up to 7.2 Mbps)/ Bluetooth 2.1 EDR/ Computer software/ USB cable & charger/ Memory card microSD/ Headset with 3.5 mm audio jack/ Battery/ Li-Ion 880 mAh/ Eco friendly Box.

Puma Phone teasers

GBH have designed and art directed a viral campaign to tease the launch of "The Puma Phone" at this year's Mobile World Congress. The short films each highlight the inspiration behind one interesting feature of this ground breaking phone. The films tease the fact that "It's got... Solar Power, Sporty Stuff, Icon Messaging and by the looks of it, there's a cat living inside the phone".

First glimpse of the actual Phone will be on the 17th February at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The films were produced and animated by our friends at 12foot6.

Mama Pizzeria

We've just delivered a new identity for Mama Pizzeria, a pizza restaurant set inside Parisian hotel, Mama Shelter. The pizzeria serves up small but indulgent pizzas that you can either eat in (sitting at a very long shared table) or take out in miniturised pizza boxes.

For inspiration we looked at traditional Italian pizza logos and noticed how often they used an Italian chef motif to front the business. We loved the simplicity of this but decided to create a more sexy and more Parisian version of it, swapping out the tubby chef for a range of cute pin-up girls.

To keep it fresh we'll be using a new girl every month, so each time you pop in for a pizza there's something new to 'enjoy'. And each girl is forever linked to Mama Pizzeria via a cheeky little tattoo which carries the phrase "MAMA LOVES YOU".

The table menus are folded into eye catching crops to give a glimpse of the latest Mama Pizzeria girl...

The menus unfold to A3 (Playboy style) to reveal a large image of the pin-up.

Pizza boxes are designed to be very low-fi and practical. A simple brown box, which is rubber stamped and then finished with a Mama Pizzeria girl sticker. This way we can change the boxes each month too.

Click here for their website

Africa united by the heat of the Sun

As part of Puma’s on-going commitment to African Football, Puma have unveiled a unique UNITY kit which is officially sanctioned by FIFA as the third kit of all Puma National teams competing in the forthcoming FIFA World Cup this summer in South Africa.

The Kit’s design was created by Puma Teamsports in-house equipment designers in collaboration with GBH as part of an over-arching RAW Football Speed and Power product ethos. The design is inspired by the African landscape, with soil samples from four African regions mixed together to create a unified earth colour, which fades into the blue of the African sky, with the heat of the sun represented by the yellow player names and numerals.

The launch film continues the RAW football story begun in the National Colours film unveiling the national kit designs for all Puma Africa countries last year, and shows African football united by the heat of the African sun. The film features star players Eto’o, Mensah and Keita from Cameroon, Ghana and Ivory Coast respectively and was shot on location in Lyon, Barcelona and in London with Jay Malet of Sponge Films with post by Absolute in London. The film was aired during the African Cup of Nations Final between Egypt and Ghana on January 31.

Look forward to seeing this kit worn by all Puma countries during the tournament in a powerful statement of unity for football and for Africa.

Visit Puma Football for More Info

Three Design Week Award Nominations

GBH have been nominated for a unique timelapse viral for Puma Motorsport, a new Product Identity for Puma Football Africa 2010 and for a TV and Stadia spot featuring world famous African footballers Samuel Eto’o, John Mensah and Khada Keita.

The three nominations in three separate categories bring GBH’s total in the UK’s prestigious Design Week Awards to 16 nominations, 4 Awards and 1 Best of Show since 2001.

GBH created the Puma Ferrari Pit Crew viral for Puma Motorsport via five iSight cameras and timelapse stop-motion software. Shot in one day, the film shows an extra special Puma Pit Crew build the 2009 Ferrari F1 car entirely from Puma Ferrari apparel and accessories. The orginal car sculpture is currently on display in Pumas Berlin store, and plans are afoot for it to tour European cities via the Puma store. Look out for a possible appearance in the Bahrain Store at the 2010 F1 World Championship season opener in March.

GBH’s other two nominations, both centre around a new product identity for Puma’s Football footwear, apparel and equipment for all Puma endorsed national and club teams competing in the FIFA World Cup 2010 and beyond. Puma Football’s new product will be divided between two performance benefits: Raw Speed and Raw Power. GBH’s identity takes its inspiration from the Raw Speed and Power of Puma’s African National Teams, preparing for battle in Africa this summer.

Evoking the passion and fervour of the African Team’s supporters, the marque is adaptable to each nation’s colour way. The identity is a result of positioning work from GBH and Boissen/Like Minded of Denmark, and is showcased in this Brand Bible for all Puma Countries by GBH. Subverting FIFA’s ‘Rules of the Game’, the book is overprinted with messages detailing the new product range’s ethos.

The African National kits were unveiled at a Catwalk event in Rome to Puma’s global customers alongside product ranges for Puma ITALIA and other national and club teams from all over the world. Attended by World Cup winning Italian Team Manager Marcello Lippi, the event showcases the African National Team kits with a 90 second unveil film, TV and Stadia spot also by GBH (with Sponge Films/VFXCo/Absolute Post), which features star players, Eto'o (Cameroon), Mensah (Ghana) and Keita (Ivory Coast).

The design of the film and brand identity extended to the look and feel for the entire event, with all event graphic design for the Raw Football unveil also by GBH. The film is currently playing during half-time in all matches at the African Cup of Nations in Angola.

The full unveil film is available to view here on ‘Live from GBH’ or on GBH TV.